History of Gala Cricket Club, 1853 to 1939

141STORY Op GALA Ck1CKtT CLU$. 11
A representative match was played at
Hawick between the M.C.C. and Rox-
burgh County, which resulted:—M.C.C.,
213; Roxburgh, 116 and 93. The Rox-
burgh side was fairly representative of
Border Cricket and included T. W. and
A. C. Lang, Selkirk, and C. C. Murray
and W. Gordon, Gala; while in the
M.C.C. side one notes such well-known
cricketers as Mycroft, Rylott, and
Farrands.
In July of this year a match took place
between Hawick and Selkirk and awak-
ened considerable interest, as it was the
first match played between the teams
since 1870. The result was:—Selkirk,
114 (W. Gordon 31) ; Hawick, 92 (T.
W. Lang 7 for 35).
A match is also reported between
Highfield, Melrose, and Innerleithen, and
in the latter team one notes the names
of George and Harry Tait. The result
was: —Innerleithen, 62; Highfield, 40.
In a discussion of prospects for the
season appearing in the "Scotsman" on
April 14, 1877, it is stated that the Gala
Club might lose their ground; but that
at St Boswells a new ground was being
laid opposite the Kennel's. The ground
had been granted by the Duke of Buc-
cleuch, and Mr Elliot of Benrig was
supervising the laying of the turf.
In 1877, Gala opened with a vin over
St Boswells, but were badly beaten the
following Saturday by Hawick, the
scores being:—Hawick, 232; Gala, 24
and 64. Against Selkirk, in July, a draw
was secured, while later in the month
Greenock visited Gala and scored 138,
when rain intervened and stopped play.
In August, against Selkirk, Gala secured
Dryden, the Hawick professional, and
won, the scores being:—Gala, 77 (T.
Fairgrieve 20) ; Selkirk, 48. One notes
several matches this year between mills,
such as Gala Mill, Netherdale and Buck-
holm, indicating a fair amount of in-
terest in the game. Roxburgh County
this year played matches against the
Grange, Stirling County, and Northum-
berland at Newcastle. Included in the
County team were T. W. Lang, A. C.
Lang, Selkirk; W. Gordon, Gala; and
A. Leyden, B. Tillotson, W. Dryden,
and W. H. Young, Hawick.
In 1878 the annual meeting of the
Gala Club was held in April, and T.
Riddell was appointed captain, and W.
Wear secretary. At the meeting it was
stated that the ground difficulty .was giv-
ing trouble and that if the Club was to
hold its own in Border cricket a new
ground would require to be secured.
Efforts to do so, it was stated, had failed
so far, but hopes of something being
done were entertained.
"There is little record of activity in
1878, although the season opened in May
with a practice game. Weather condi-
tions prevented both Selkirk matches be-
ing finished. In a match against St
Boswells, Gala scored 196, the opposi-
tion replying with 59 and 38. In this
match R. Wood scored 82, and one
notices the names of A. M. Grieve and
W. S. Brown in the Gala team. Hawick
were a strong side this year, and a match
is reported between Selkirk and Lass-
wade, in which the latter team had three
professionals.
In 1879 a fixture list was published at
the beginning of the season with nine
matches. In the first recorded match,
Edinburgh Institution beat Gala by 103
to 60, D. Somerville scoring 52 for the
Institution. Matches were also played
with Hawick, Roslin, Leith Franklin, and
Selkirk. In the match against Selkirk,
Gala won by 59 to 42, W. S. Brown be-
ing in great form, scoring 18 runs and
taking 6 wickets for 4 runs.
At the beginning of this season a match
was played at Bowhill House between
Bowhill and Selkirk. The scores were:
—Bowhill, 131; Selkirk, 18 and 23. For
Bowhill, Wheeler of Leicester scored 69,
and their bowling is reported to have
been very destructive.